22 comments:

glad to have helped, will offer additional TB compositing help should you need it.

Enjoyed your One Ring interview, btw (amazing Ralph story - that kind of manager is so rare today), and hopefully Ralph B. will get the urge to share his animation energy and knowledge with a few more artists!

This gives me hope that maybe we'll be able to bring cartoons back to their natural place. Like the 90's.

Though I should ask, why has it always been so difficult to do? I imagine if people were able to start up a cartoon studio, they would've done it already. And they'd at least be competing with the stuff that's out there now. But I hardly see anything I like, at least where I could find it. Just how hard is it to start something?

Yes! Congrats!!! So excited to see it happen! I'd lend you my services this project, but I've my own cartoon to work on.

The only problem I see with this method is the expense of a cartoon vs. the ability to raise funds may not be in your favor quite as much next time. I'm sure a lot of us gave more this time around than we would on a second, third or fourth cartoon... mostly because we REALLY wanted to see this happen.

Will we be able to be so generous like this continuously?

Will you have as many great awards to give out next time?

Will people (myself included) be willing to give so much money for a single 10 minute cartoon?

Will there be a LARGER paying audience, or a smaller one?

These are all good questions that need to be examined. You've proven that it is possible to raise the funds... now the next thing is to figure out if it's sustainable.

What may need to happen is a hybrid of product placement/sponsorship (which you've already done) AND raising money directly from the audience (which this is) together to ensure a continuous flow of cash.

Either way, I'm really excited for you, and can't wait to see more george liquor action! Here's to many more successes and a long studio-executive free career!!

this is such great news! i'm so excited! hopefully there will be lots of progress reports here on the blog!

on an unrelated note... i can't find your any of your shirts for sale on the stussy store website... are they already sold out? i wish they'd reprint them in the colors that you have in the cartoon... and why does it cost 21 dollars to ship a t-shirt from your online store(in addition the the cost of the tshirt)? is there any possible way to buy them at a cheaper shipping rate? like through ebay or amazon marketplace, perhaps? or even better, at some future john k event?

Ken, only since there's been computer programs capable of decent animation has there been a way for artists to bypass the business and do it themselves. Even that, though, is only part of it. Animation is very time consuming. Without funding, do-it-yourselfers still need an income source, so it take ages to do just one 5 minute cartoon.

Kickstarter seems like a great idea, and it certainly seems to have worked here, but John's a known and respected name. No one is going to pledge donations to some unknown (like myself) to quit his day job to make cartoons because they have no idea what their money is going to.

Nick Cross has also had some success with this type of funding, and he's tirelessly making his own animated feature by himself, but even he is known to many.

Even if you can get the time or money needed to complete a cartoon, there's the problem of getting it out there. YouTube or Vimeo are fine if you want to just throw it out there for free, but with the time, talent and commitment it takes to make a cartoon, it's pretty unsatisfying to just post it and hope people find it. Not to mention getting the RIGHT people to find it, as opposed to the trolls with nothing better to do than leave insulting comments (been there, read them).

It's not surprising we haven't yet heard where "Cans Without Labels" will be made available. Even industry legends like John can get snubbed by the studios/TV networks/cable channels, so the idea of starting up a cartoon studio is about as easy as declaring you're going to start your own bank and expect people to start bringing their money to you.

I strongly feel that if I had the time to produce and the venue to show my own creations, they'd have a loyal fan base, one that crosses over to Spumco, Clampett, classic HB and more. But the road to success in the entertainment biz is nearly invisible, and the talent scouts and dealmakers are often told to discourage much of the talent seeking their shot. If everyone who wanted to get into the entertaiment arts were given their shot, there'd be more artists than audience.

There may be computer apps that can level the playing field as far as the tools of the trade goes, but there's no program that can support you financially while you do it and no app that can get it on TV or in theaters. YouTube? It's nice, but it's digital graffitti. You can't make a career from just posting on YouTube.

The face in can cartoon looks hilarious! From John's drawings, but especially from his pitch video I saw some months ago. I'm very interested in seeing this project come to fruition.So we can all enjoy the fruits of John K's labor.

It's just a thought, but I think it's funny when someone who lives in California is asking the rest of us for money? Where I live, we had this little "special" grocery store where everything was expired and close to free. The owner had at least 10 older kids. I notice Grocery Stores, Buffets throwing away A LOT of food. My personal Office Chair was free for me since an Insurance Company was throwing them away. Like new. To ugly and boring for me to actually buy. It would be nice to see something/Cartoon/whatever that's actually funny and relevant.

I found a picture I cut out of a video game magazine in the mid 90s... it was George Liquor, nude about to box a bear. From Wilderness adventure. In front of him is a strategically placed tree stump with a twig and two acorns. From what I can tell it is page 76 of the storyboard for that episode. Do you recall what magazine or company used that image or do you happen to have a scan of it?